Clarification of MYW passes

[brighteyes]

Just want to be sure I am understanding this. If I were to buy a MYW pass with PH and waterpark and more option, for the entire length of our stay, does this allow us to go to any theme park or waterpark on any day and visit more than one. I would like the freedom to go to whatever park we wish, or diff parks on the same day or the same park 3 days in a row. Does this option give me the freedom to go where I want, when I want?

I am just a bit confused....

 

[CanadianGuy]

For the sake of argument let's say you bought a six day Magic Your Way Pass with Park Hopping and Waterpark and More. That means you get six days of entering the four major theme parks and you get five admittances to the Waterparks, DisneyQuest or Pleasure Island.

You can go to any of the four major theme parks.. as many as you'd like in a day as many times as you like a day.. So you can go to MGM in the morning, MK in the afternoon and Epcot at night all in one day. And that's ONE day of your 6 day major theme parks portion of your ticket.

Or you could go MGM in the morning, Epcot in the afternoon, back to MGM for Fantasmic and then over to Magic Kingdom if it's open late enough.. And still, that's one of your six days of major theme park admission.

Waterparks & More:

Depending on the length of MYW ticket you buy, you get a different number of Waterpark/DisneyQuest/Pleasure Island admittances. Those are separate and distinct from the days of the pass.

SO.. a 6 day park hopper w WFM includes 5 WFM admittances. WFM admittances are separate and distinct from the four major parks portion of your ticket. Unlike the major park admittances.. There is no Waterpark-park hopping. In other words, you CAN use two of your WFM admittances in one day.

For Example, if I went to Typhoon Lagoon in the daytime and then Pleasure Island that same night -- that's two admittances used up.

Another Example: If I started the day at Blizzard Beach, then went to Typhoon Lagoon, then went to Disney Quest at 6pm and then to Pleasure Island at 10pm. Thats four of my five Waterpark Fun & More options used up in one day.

Another Example: If I started my morning at MGM, then hopped to Epcot.. and then went to Pleasure Island that night.. That one of my theme park days.. and one of my WFM admittances used up on the same day.

It thus stands to reason.. you could spend 6 days at major theme parks.. then go DisneyQuest one day, Typhoon another, Blizzard Beach the next day.. Disney Quest again.. and on the eleventh day of your trip STILL have one more WFM admittance left on your ticket

Clear as mud?

Good.. now the whole ticket expires 14 days from day of first use whether you've used it all or not... unless of course you purchase the no-expiration option. But that's a whole other can of worms.

Knox

 

[brighteyes]

Yep....clear as mud...

Let me see if i have this.... we have 10 day MYW passes with PH and the waterpark thingy....

Soooo.... If I went to all the parks in a day ( I know, I won't but just for arugement's sake) that counts as one day admission...parks count by day.. or if i left a park and went back that same night, or went to a diff park IT'S STILL ONE DAY because it's the same day.. right?

The waterpark and more... how many of those do I get with a 10 day MYW ticket.

The "more" stuff counts per admittance...right?

I think I understand

steph

 

[CanadianGuy]

Steph:

You go it right!

You get 6 WFM visits with a 10 day pass. And the "More" is PER admittance.

Knox

 

[brighteyes]

Steph:

You go it right!

You get 6 WFM visits with a 10 day pass. And the "More" is PER admittance.

Knox

what is WFM...waterpark and stuff? sorry I am new to all disney...

steph

 

[CanadianGuy]

Sorry.. I was abbreviating "Waterpark Fun & More" - WFM. I'm a lazy typist.

Knox

 

[brighteyes]

geez, this is like instant messaging lol

thanks canadianguy for clearing that up.

I just noticed on your first post saying that we could visit the parks on 6 days, then go to each waterpark, disneyquest, etc and still have admissions left.. does getting the waterpark and more option take days away from the parks? we really are getting them as a backup just in case we decide to do them. the only thing we know for sure we will do out of that option is disneyquest. we may end up skipping the waterparks, but want the option if we decide one day we want to go.


is this a good idea?

steph

 

[CanadianGuy]

Steph:

Going to a Waterpark, DisneyQuest or Pleasure Island does NOT take days away from your 10 day park hopper. It DOES take one of your 6 WFM admittances however.

The Waterparks Fun & More Option adds $53.25 to the price of each ticket.

A single admittance to DisneyQuest is like 34$ for an adult. So .. You can decide accordingly I guess.

One other thought -- you can buy simple 10 day park hoppers and NOT add the WaterPark Fun & More option... then if while you are there, you decide you want to do a Waterpark or two.. and maybe DisneyQuest or whatever .. you can add the option to your ticket at any Guest Relations window (or Disney hotel concierge) for $53.25.. same as if you buy it in advance.

Knox

PS> 53.25$ is rough.. it might be a dollar or two more.. I'm going on my 2am brain here.. so..

 

[brighteyes]

well the trip is compliments of my dad, a gift to my son...so dad said, just do it all... Grandpa went twice before about 5 yrs ago for a wrk convention and complained because my 2 sisters (half sisters who are much younger than me) just cared about shopping lol

If they went back they were going to take him, but never did. My son's 11 and since I am about to go back to school full time for the next 3 yrs we wouldnt be able to go for awhile. SO my dad said he should go before he's a teenager and is too "cool" to enjoy it. lol

he is paying for everything except food and spending $....he would have paid for two weeks, but i think 10 days will be good...so ya dad said just do it all, and use it if u need it. I really don't think we will ever get back.

Where I need to budget my money is the food, and souvenirs. So next step is figuring out the menu, cost of shows. It sucks my son has to eat off adult menu cause he's 11. I would like to do the dining plan, but with my son only eating chicken, rice, c heese pizza, chicken fingers, and fries, and salad, and plain spaghetti, I feel like it is such a rip off for me to pay that for him. He would be fine at CS meals the whole trip but I would like to have some nice dinners and do a few Character Meals. So that is my next mission.

Did I say how much I love my dad. lol. I am 38 and feel like a kid, I am sooo exicted to go. I can't wait to tell my son. He's gonna hug his grandpa soo tight when we tell him I hope no one get hurt.

Thanks for all your info.


Steph

 

[mbb]

... He's gonna hug his grandpa soo tight when we tell him I hope no one get hurt. .....

Awww...

That just makes me smile..

Have a wonderful, magical, do everything! trip!

 

[mtmbyck]

How many days total are you staying there? Ten days of Parks sounds like you will need about a month recovery time after tour trip! Mind you, once you start adding the 6th, 7th, 8th.... days, I think it's a $6 difference per day! Whick resort have you selected. You might not need the plus option if your resort has great water activities - most of the moderate and deluxe resorts do! But Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are fantastic if you have a hot day and need a break from "It's a small world".

As for dining plan, having done this with my family I say go for it! But I would try to book buffet style meals and then your son can pick off the adult buffet as well as the kids buffet! I think the dining plan is a fantastic value for what you get - we ate like kings and it was so enjoyable to have that sit down break each day (and quite honestly your price per day is really only the cost of 1 sit down meal!). In many restaurants, the kids can selet an appetizer off the adult menu since there aren't kids appetizers (at Captain Jacks my husband had 3 shrimp appetizers sinc ethe kids didn;t want theirs). Have a look at some menus and pricing on this site before you decide.

 

[Debbie]

Dining plan pros: You get to try a lot of table service restaurants and it is paid up front. Your son, even though you'd have to pay for him as an adult, can order from either of the menus, or even a combination. (DD15, ate the kids desserts at a few places.)

That said, we had free dining last year. DH and I liked it. The kids-12 and 15- got bored/tired of sit down meals. And we didn't get HALF of the rides done that we have done in the past. Both girls said, "Please do NOT do that to us again!" It takes a good 1½-3 hours out of the day...every day....depending on where you eat. Travel time has to be included as well.

We're happy with counter service meals. And in August, it is so hot that we always just have peanut butter and crackers/pop tarts/granola bars etc. for breakfast in the room. During the day, drinks to keep hydrated, and one counter service meal. Snacks. Maybe a quick something in the evening So, in the end, it is cheaper. Not the fancy meals, but cheaper and more park time.

This year, I'm taking my adult DD. We talked about it, but she is interested in rides/attractions, so we will do counter service, probably even splitting some in the heat. We will do Le Cellier because my nephew is working there. I'm doing a drink at Sci-Fi, and other that that, little is planned. We'll eat where and when we are hungry. If DH and I went, though, we'd do the dining, and that would be the focus of the trip.

All this to say, check out the menus at Deb's site and see what would work for you and your son. Make your decision as to the types of things that you like to eat, your budget etc. Whatever you do, you will have the greatest time ever!

 

[Debbie]

Forgot to add. Hoop De Doo. I think that you were questioning whether your son would prefer this or the Luau. When my oldest was about 12, we went to HDDR. He vowed that it was stupid, and he wasn't going to enjoy it. Gave it this look Well, about 3 minutes in, the grin started and he had a blast. The kids loved the food and it was a great evening. I have pictures of the boy "not" enjoying himself.

It has been a long time since we've done the Luau, but I do remember that the food was not to the kids' liking, and the server ended up bringing 5 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches....and DH trying to take one of the kids' (not a fan of that cuisine, either )

Steph, hard as it is, you really won't be able to do it all. Think about what you and your boy want most to accomplish (get that guidebook-even an old one from the library) and set out to to those at the top of your list. Relaxing is as important as anything-especially since you are headed for an intense few years. Good luck and have fun in the planning!

 

[brighteyes]

Hi Deb,

Yes I was up till 2:30 am looking at all the menus of the character meals, the buffet meals and a few of the rest. I think my son would like.

I am thinking by the time I add one dinner show, even one character meal and a few TS meals, then the DP would be worth it. I still have to do some math. Basicallly, any place with roast chicken, rice, turkey or chicken fingers or pizza would be good. My thought was when it gets hot that may be a good time to do some of our TS throughout the day, go back to the hotel for a swim or nap then do a CS for dinner that night, then back to the park at whichever has EMH that day. Or on the days when we want TS for dinner, we do the EMH in am, with a quick snack before we go, and CS whichever park we are in. Does that sound reasonable? The only time we will probably do PH is if we finished up a park in a day and still had time to do another one, or if we leave to go back to the hotel or Waterpark for the aft, then we could do a diff park in the evening with EMH.

On our stay it looks like MK is the one that has the EMH the most. And AK the least. We are going for 10 days on aug 17-26.

But we also have a travel agent that will help us book any ADR and plan us a basic intinerary based on EMH, what attractions, shows we want to see, we just give her a list and she will do it. I want to plan but not overplan, I want to be flexible, but we chose 10 days because we thought that would give us a little more time and to not have to rush. Is this possible??

We figure 2 days per park, plus an extra day to do DTD, cause on the last day, there's really not alot of time to do much right?

Please let me know if I am correct in my thinking that if we choose to leave the park in the aft b/c of heat and go back later after dinner, that 10 days will still give us time to see alot of it. I know my son will love MGM and Epcot, but he will also love the rides.

My only question is, my friend and I were thinking we will book whatever shows, like the luau, but for ADR for TS for dinner, we thought maybe we would just book a few of the absolute musts like capt jacks. I HAVE to have lobster when I am in Florida

 

[brighteyes]

Well the reason I thought about the luau instead of Hoop De Doo, is we took him to a pantomime show of Aladdin, and he was not impressed.

At least the luau, you can say that is a once in a lifetime thing, I have never seen one in Ontario

So even though the money I pay or the TS credits, may not be worth it food wise, I think it will be for the show.

One more question about Fantasmic. I was reading on these boards somewhere that with Fant. that the dinner package some ppl thought were not worth it, that if they went to a later show that they did not need the priority seating? We are going aug 17-26, do u think we could get a good seat without the dinner package for that or should we book an ADR for that show?

And if I viewed the Vacation planning DVD will I spoil the magic for my son and myself?? I am trying not to see too many pictures??

Thanks again, I love these boards.

Steph

 

[Csaks]

Steph,

I don't think watching the DVD will spoil anything for you. If anything it will give you some idea's of some things you 'Have to do!' and or excited that you are going.
If I remember correctly you said you have never been before so any information is good information. Your idea of stopping for a break during the day is a very sound one. My parents took my sister and I to the World when I was a kid and we didn't stop all day. All I remember was going to bed early tired. We had fun but maybe that was their plan! When I took my wife for our honeymoon in '01 we did the same thing. I was too afraid we would miss something if we didn't and were beat by the end of our 7 days.

In '04 we took a different look at things. We decided to take it easy, it was after all our vacation. One park in the morning, back to Riverside mid-day, have a nap, swim in the pool or grab a snack. In the late afternoon pick another park (the crowds seemed lighter) and stay late watching the fireworks. It was easier to hang around late at night and wait for the bus lines to die down at park closing after an afternoon nap. Taking the mid-day break was the best thing we did that 7 day trip and I think we saw more and enjoyed it more than the first trip.

Chris.

 

[brighteyes]

Thanks Csaks,

I hope the plan works. I am a bit worried about how my son will deal with the heat. Sheesh, even in Ontario summers, he is always found to be inside in the air conditioning. He says he doesn't like being outside cause it's tooo hot.

My worst fear is that we get to WDW and he doesn't want to go anywhere cause it's too hot. While everyone else is swimming to be cool, he is inside. Says he doesn't like swimming either.

OMG I wonder if that has ever happened? I am hoping he will enjoy himself with the heat, but to keep everyone happy I think a good break in some a/c or a swim would do us good.

Steph